By Manolo Serapio Jr.

The partnership between the United States Agency for International Development and Synergeia Foundation to improve learning outcomes in the Philippines by reforming local governance has more than halved the number of frustrated student readers in the country.

The collaboration has also reached more than 3 million learners, 14,000 educators and 18,000 officials and administrators, USAID Acting Administrator Gloria Steele said at the 14th Washington SyCip National Education Summit.

“With the local governments leading the way and with strong support from local businesses, there has been a 56% reduction in the number of students self identifying as frustrated readers,” Steele said from the USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Synergeia’s “work on reinventing the Local School Boards, mobilizing Parent Teacher Associations and improving School Governing Councils have made all these possible,” she said.

USAID implements its Education Governance Effectiveness (EdGE) program in the Philippines in partnership with Synergeia Foundation. It is aimed at transforming local communities to be education champions, with the goal of improving the reading skills of early grade students.

Steele was the keynote speaker at the two-day virtual summit that concluded on Friday. With the theme “Learning from our Best to Defy Gravity”, the summit tackled the issues surrounding the falling competency of Filipino students.

‘Strengthened local governance’

More than 700 participants including teachers, parents, students, education administrators and local government officials attended the event, with guests including Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian. The summit was also streamed live on Facebook, garnering nearly 22,000 views as of Saturday.

Steele said USAID’s work with Synergeia also allowed for multi-sectoral cooperation in times of disasters to make sure that children continue to learn.

In the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, Synergeia mobilized its local government and private sector partners to rebuild schools, provide teaching and learning materials and initiated a range of intervention so that children and teachers affected by the disaster can return to school, she said.

“Synergeia also provided assistance to more than 80,000 young learners affected by the Marawi siege including psychosocial support, remedial reading and safe spaces to learn,” Steele said.

Synergeia is a nonprofit organization that works with 421 local governments across the Philippines to lift the quality of basic education, convinced that it takes a village to raise a child.

A staunch education advocate, Steele launched the EdGE program in 2013 when she was USAID’s mission director for the Philippines.

As the EdGE program ends this year, she said “we are confident and optimistic that the movement to improve education through strengthened local governance will continue to spread and gain momentum.”

With a 40-year career at USAID, Steele, a Filipino-American, was appointed acting administrator by U.S. President Joe Biden shortly after he took office in January.

By Manolo Serapio Jr.

Vice President Leni Robredo has pushed for the resumption of face-to-face classes in areas where there is no community transmission of COVID-19, saying the pandemic has further widened the existing gaps in the Philippine education system.

While there has been a renewed surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, particularly in Metro Manila and surrounding areas, there are still places where there has been slow to zero transmission of the deadly coronavirus including parts of Visayas and Mindanao.

Stressing that the “one size fits all” policy of banning in-person classes across the country is not appropriate, Robredo said “we have to be agile, flexible and nimble enough to pattern our response to the realities we see on the ground, to find the gaps and fill them.”

“There have always been gaps that needed to be filled in our education system. But now with the pandemic bringing entire nations to their knees, fissures in society resurface and widen, impacting the most vulnerable even more,” Robredo said during the 14th Washington SyCip National Education Summit organized by Synergeia Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development.

“Our recommendations stand: establish more learning hubs near community schools, provide training for teachers, explore conducting face-to-face classes in areas where there is no community transmission (and) invest more in technology,” she said.

With the theme “Learning from our Best to Defy Gravity”, the two-day virtual summit that concluded on Friday tackled the issues surrounding the falling competency of Filipino students. It was attended by hundreds of participants including educators, parents and local government officials.

Synergeia which works to improve the quality of basic education has been pushing its local government partners to safely hold in-person learning sessions in open areas, particularly in places with zero COVID-19 cases, to help students cope with remote learning.

These limited, in-person tutorials are being carried out in some Synergeia partner communities including La Union, Iloilo, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao provinces.

‘Best case scenario’

In Asia, only schools in the Philippines, Myanmar and Bangladesh have remained closed since they were shut at the start of the pandemic, according to Zurich-based independent educational foundation Insights for Education.

The Senate earlier this month recommended the resumption of face-to-face classes in the Philippines through the immediate launch of a trial run in schools in low risk areas.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on basic education, said he hoped that in-person classes would resume in the next school year.

“It’s almost impossible for our students to have access or even afford access to the Internet at this time, so the best case scenario will be to have face-to-face classes this coming school year,” Gatchalian said at the summit.

But some mayors have expressed concern in resuming in-person classes at this stage.

In Pasig City in Metro Manila where COVID-19 cases remain high, Mayor Vico Sotto said it would not be practical at this point to return to face-to-face classes in the city. What Pasig is focusing on at the moment, he said, is to increase student access to learning modules offline.

Even in Dinalupihan, Bataan, a municipality with a relatively low incidence of COVID-19 with 27 active cases currently, Mayor Gila Garcia said they are not keen on holding physical classes yet.

“Once we lose control of containment of these cases, the effect is going to be too much to handle,” she said.

Official media partners: INQUIRER.net, INQPOP!, BusinessWorld, Malaya Business Insight, Pageone, The Philippine Post, The Luzon Daily, The Visayas Journal, The Mindanao Life, Manila Magazine, Woman PH, Daily Guardian, Damdamag Ilocano, Digital News Exchange, DZNL Aksyon Radyo, Love Radio La Union, TVigan, Asap Tagudin Cable TV Network, Inc., DCATV Networks, Eagle Fiber, Excel Fiber Cable Network, Inc., Gen. Trias Cable Network, Inc., Shama Fiber Broadband and CATV Networks, Inc., Superior CATV Networks, Tagaytay Broadband and CATV Network, Inc. and Trend Fiber CATV Systems Corp.

With special thanks to DZRH May Trabaho, DZRJ Good Job Philippines, Net 25 Pambansang Almusal and Women Lifestyle.

By Manolo Serapio Jr.

Twenty-seven cities and municipalities were awarded the Seal of Good Education Governance by the United States Agency for International Development and Synergeia Foundation in recognition of their efficiency in delivering basic education in their communities despite a crippling pandemic.

Nine local governments were conferred the Seal for the fourth year since its inception, having aggressively stepped up to the plate to ensure that learning continued as the global health crisis kept Philippine schools shut for more than a year now.

Many of these cities and municipalities safely implemented limited in-person learning sessions in open areas, sustained remedial reading programs and used radio and online tools widely to supplement learning modules supplied by schools.

“Education is the responsibility of the central government, yet you embraced it completely and we deeply appreciate your effort,” Synergeia President and CEO Milwida Guevara said during the awarding of the Seal at the conclusion of the 14th Washington SyCip National Education Summit on Friday.

With the theme “Learning from our Best to Defy Gravity”, the two-day virtual summit tackled the issues surrounding the falling competency of Filipino students with guests including Vice President Leni Robredo, USAID acting administrator Gloria Steele and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian. Hundreds of participants including educators, parents, and local government officials participated.

The criteria used in selecting this year’s recipients include a high cohort survival rate, the ratio of current enrollment to last year’s, a reduction in the number of frustrated and non-readers, a reinvented Local School Board and functional School Governing Councils.

Measuring the cohort survival rate, that is, Grade 1 students must at least finish Grade 6, is critical in a country where one in five families are headed by somebody who did not finish elementary education.

The Seal “acknowledges the recipient’s commitment, provides a better future for the children and youth across the Philippines and it incentivizes others to follow their lead,” said USAID’s Steele.

USAID implements its Education Governance Effectiveness program in partnership with Synergeia and is aimed at transforming local communities to be education champions, with the goal of improving the reading skills for early grade students.

‘Award for the community’

For this year, the Seal recipients were grouped into how many times they have won the Seal since it was first conferred in 2017. There were the first-time and second-time winners and there were those who were awarded for three years and four years. There was no Seal given out last year due to the pandemic.

First-time winners were Balanga City, Bataan; San Fernando, La Union; General Santos City; San Manuel, Pangasinan; Roxas, Palawan; Barotac Viejo, Iloilo; and Dumangas, Iloilo.

Those who received it a second time were Padre Garcia, Batangas; Agoo, La Union; San Gabriel, La Union; Ivisan, Capiz; Alimodian, Iloilo; Vigan City, Ilocos Sur; and Mambusao, Capiz.

Three-time recipients were Tuba, Benguet; Cabatuan, Iloilo; Concepcion, Iloilo; and Villaverde, Nueva Vizcaya. And those that won the Seal for a fourth time were Solano, Nueva Vizcaya; Bacnotan, La Union; Diffun, Quirino; Mina, Iloilo; Cagayan de Oro City; Datu Paglas, Maguindanao; North Upi, Maguindanao; Navotas City; and Valenzuela City.

Nine local governments which just barely missed the mark were in the honorable mention: Candon, Ilocos Sur; Lambunao, Iloilo; Oton, Iloilo; Taraka, Lanao del Sur; Mataas na Kahoy, Batangas; San Jose de Buenavista, Antique; Saguday, Quirino; Batad, Iloilo; and Parang, Maguindanao.

Mayor Carlo Medina, from two-time Seal winner Vigan City, said: “This is not an award for any one person, this is an award for the community. We can all persevere to defy gravity.”

Other partners for the event were the United Nations Children’s Fund, PLDT Smart, Seaoil Foundation and SGV Foundation.

Apart from the Seal, all awardees will each receive P75,000 worth of gas cards from Seaoil, P79,000 worth of phone cards from Smart Communications and a package of children’s books from SGV Foundation worth P50,000.

Official media partners: INQUIRER.net, INQPOP!, BusinessWorld, Malaya Business Insight, Pageone, The Philippine Post, The Luzon Daily, The Visayas Journal, The Mindanao Life, Manila Magazine, Woman PH, Daily Guardian, Damdamag Ilocano, Digital News Exchange, DZNL Aksyon Radyo, Love Radio La Union, TVigan, Asap Tagudin Cable TV Network, Inc., DCATV Networks, Eagle Fiber, Excel Fiber Cable Network, Inc., Gen. Trias Cable Network, Inc., Shama Fiber Broadband and CATV Networks, Inc., Superior CATV Networks, Tagaytay Broadband and CATV Network, Inc. and Trend Fiber CATV Systems Corp.


With special thanks to DZRH May Trabaho, DZRJ Good Job Philippines, Net 25 Pambansang Almusal and Women Lifestyle.